Rural households in China have traditionally consumed food mostly grown on their own
farms. While they continue to rely on self-produced grains, vegetables, meats, and eggs for
a large portion of their diet, rural households are now purchasing more of their food as they
enter the mainstream of the Chinese economy. Cash purchases of food by rural Chinese
households increased 7.4 percent per year from 1994 to 2003. Consumption has shifted
from self-produced to purchased food at a rate faster than can be explained by income
growth or changes in other household characteristics. The move away from self-produced
food is associated with lower consumption of staple grains, the most important selfproduced
food in rural Chinese diets. Food consumed away from home is one of the fastest
growing categories of rural household expenditures, doubling in budget share from 1995 to
2001. Commercialization of food consumption is diversifying Chinese diets, broadening
food markets, and creating new opportunities for retailers and product distributors.